The Melvins’ King Buzzo Singles Out Pete Townshend for Acoustic Rock God Status

We know Melvins mainstay King Buzzo has great taste in classic rock covers -- and as it turns out, that's also where he drew spiritual inspiration for his new acoustic LP, 'This Machine Kills Artists.'

Buzzo recently sat down for an exclusive chat with Ultimate Classic Rock (embedded at the top of this post), and when talk turned to which classic rock artists he feels have unplugged most successfully, he singled out Pete Townshend of the Who.

"I believe it was the late '70s, he did a live show where he played Who songs acoustic on a record called 'The Secret Policeman's Ball,'" Buzzo recalled. "I believe it was a charity event. But I heard that then, and you know, I realized really quickly that he was the reason why that stuff was good, because he could get up there and play those songs and sing 'em with an acoustic guitar, and that was really cool."

Although you may not necessarily hear it in Buzzo's work with or without the Melvins, that Townshend-inspired epiphany lingered.

"I think that was always in the back of my mind, at least to some degree, how he did that, even if I didn't want to do it exactly like him," he concluded. "I think that was a big influence, certainly, on what I was doing, but mostly in a philosophical way, more than anything else."